I've waited all my life
by captaainswaan
Summary: Shrek AU. The Evil Queen kidnapped the crowned princess Emma Swan. In a desperate attempt to save her the King and Queen send out a notice that anybody can save her and if they succeed they will be rewarded. Captain Hook likes this idea very much. One Shot.


Emma hated waiting. She hated cells too. She wasn't entirely sure which she hated more.

It should seem obvious, Emma should hate being locked in the Evil Queen's dungeon, but Emma has spent a good portion of time waiting.

For as long as she can remember Emma has waited for The Evil Queen to strike her kingdom. In fact she can't even remember a time where she wasn't worried whether the Evil Queen was going to kill someone she cared about.

Emma hated to dwell on unpleasant things. She had hope that Prince Charming, or her father, would come to get her and finally get the threat of the Evil Queen gone.

So Emma waited inside her cell marking the days until her mother and father would come strolling in telling tales of the great battle they won in her name. As time grew on, Emma tired of waiting. In fact the waiting and isolation made her bitter, she stopped singing to pass time and instead caved into the wall a map of her castle from memory. She wondered whether or not anyone was coming to get her.

The day went on as it always did. Emma woke up, tried to fall asleep, watched the knight that gave her food leave, ate, looked at her map, went to bed. It became a calming mechanism for her, knowing that she had nothing to forward to, just the endless waiting. She _knew_ what her mother would say, "You have to have hope, my dear,". But Emma was done waiting and hoping.

Emma realized that she gave up hoping for anyone to save her a long time ago. Nobody was ever going to come and save her. What if her parents had forgotten her? What if they were dead? What if The Evil Queen killed everyone and was waiting for her to _snap. _

Emma would not allow anybody to use her as some sort of pawn in a bigger game. She was a person, and this was her life and she would be damned if she let it slip through her fingers.

So for the first time in a long time, Emma stood on her cot and looked out a small window meant to give light in the cell, and saw the land around the castle was thriving. The lush green trees were alive and well and the plants were living and the sky was so blue that Emma wanted to cry. A warm feeling spread across her body,giving her goosebumps, Emma knew that if the sky was blue that there was hope. That if the plants were alive, so was she. And if anybody could save her it would be someone from the outside. Emma didn't know the castle, she didn't know how to get out or fight.

All Emma could do was wait.

And she did wait.

(I think its safe to say Emma hates waiting more then cells)

"She has our daughter Charming, if you think for one second i'm just going to sit around and-"

"_Snow_," Charming said shaking his head "we aren't abandoning her, we are outnumbered and we can't just waltz into the castle and take her out," he took a step forward and pressed his wife into his chest enveloping her in a hug. "We'll do what we can,"

"What we can isn't enough!" Snow snapped, but regretted it soon after, apologizing almost right after she spoke.

"I just want our Emma back," Snow said burying her head in the crook of his neck.

"We will find her,"

"What if we sent out a reward for people to find her, we don't have a large enough army to hold off Regina's army, but the people might-"

"Snow, are you suggesting we put a reward for returning our daughter?"

"I'm figuring out a way to bring her back to us!" Snow shouted, something she found she was doing more often than she'd like, "I will do whatever it takes to save her. Reward, bargaining, whatever I have to to get my daughter home,"

Snow pulled away from her husband and shook her head.

"How far are you willing to go Snow? Murder? Extortion?" Charming demanded.

"Whatever it takes to bring her home," Snow held her head up high, but Charming knew she was about to cry.

The next morning the entire kingdom was informed that Princess Emma was taken and held captive at a mystery location and if brought back unharmed they would receive enough wealth for six generations of their family to live comfortably. Something Captain Hook thought would be a nice way to retire. Not that the Captain would ever be anything more than a pirate, but six generations of money sounds like a comfortable life.

"Smee, we're going to save a princess,"

"Captain?" Smee said looking at the paper the Captain was holding. "How do we even find this princess?"

"Easy, look for a dragon,"

"Captain, I hardly think finding a dragon is easy and then fighting said dragon-"

"Smee, have a little faith won't you?"

"Captain, you know I have faith in you _but _what happens after you get the princess? You take her to the palace? How do you think they will take to having a pirate in their home?" Smee suggested thinking about how this was going to end with somebody dying.

"I think they're desperate and will be grateful for anybody bringing their daughter back,"

Snow marched through the castle her shoes smacking on the stone leaving a clack as she walked. "What does she propose?" Snow asked grumpy who was telling her of the Evil Queen's proposition, a wedding to merge the two kingdoms.

"No, I refuse to take away my daughters chance of finding true love," Snow said shaking her head. "Tell the Evil Queen that we are coming for her and that the kingdom will not rest until she is found dead,"

"Smee do you know where Princesses are hidden?"

"Uh, no , sir," Smee said shuffling awkwardly he had thought the Captain had abandoned that idea, but apparently not.

"In high towers isolated far from people inside castles with dragons in them," The Captain smiled and showed Smee a map "Or maleficent's castle whichever you prefer really,"

"When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible,"

Emma grabbed the spoon and hid it in her dress. She thought about sharpening it and when the knight came using it against him to lead her out. It seemed like a good plan, if she had something to sharpen the spoon with. Laying on her bed Emma tried carving it with her fingers but her nails were breaking and there wasn't much progress on turning it into a blade.

Emma put the sheet over her head and tried carving the spoon for hours but all she got was frustrated.

"Let's get every knight we have after Emma," Charming suggested and Snow placed a hand on her forehead.

"We already did that and nobody came back," Snow shook her head "We don't even have an army to send after Regina,"

"Captain-" Smee said panicking as he and the Captain approached but he silenced him.

"Smee, i'm going to get the princess, you stay here," Killian said staring up at the tower the princess was waiting in.

The castle itself was lavish, clearly not made to have Princesses held captive in. There was a big foyer with drapes that had been ripped and marble tiles that had cracks the size of the floor itself and the further they walked inside Maleficent's castle Killian could smell fire, which meant one thing, the dragon was close. Killian hadn't been in many castles, in fact this was the first castle he had ever been in, but he figured that the princess would be up the stairs. Thankfully, the stairs was away from where the dragon presumably was. Killian turned around to see where Smee was but he was just standing in the foyer, _he could leave him alone right? _Killian turned forward his senses heightened and walked slowly up the stairs. He pulled his hood over his face and hid his hook in his cloak. He didn't want the princess not trusting him. The spiral staircase was lavish and Killian made a mental note to put one in his new estate after he returned the princess. The stone walls were perfect for Killian to grip onto as he climbed them, his spiral staircase would have railings, he decided. When he reached the door he pushed it slightly and watched as it swung open.

Inside the room it was dark, but he could just make out a figure moving towards him. He stood there paralyzed as the figure moved hitting him on the shoulder and shoving him to the solid ground.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded. _Bloody Hell._

"Killian Jones" He told the Princess "and i'm here to rescue you," The Princess jumped off of him and put her spoon away. _Spoon? _

"Yes, thank you Sir Knight, I would like to apologize about that," The Princess blushed and Killian didn't have time to think about what was happening. Killian opened his mouth to tell her something but it was lost as an ear-splitting scream and a dragon roar came from under them. The Princess' eyes widened as she shouted "you didn't slay the dragon?"

"Its on my to-do list hurry!" Killian shouted as he ran down the stairs The Princess following closely behind him lifting her dress so that she wouldn't trip over it. The minute Killian stepped down from the last step he saw Maleficent except she was no longer Maleficent but a big _angry _dragon who was not happy.

"Sir Killian, please, please, _please_ tell me that you have a plan," The Princess begged and didn't seem to notice Killian cringe at his name with Sir in front of it.

"It's on my to-do list, Princess," Killian said and looked away at the Princesses horrified expression not entirely trusting himself on a response. His hand went directly to his sword and he pulled it out of his holster and grabbed the princess by the hand pushing her forward. Ignoring her protests, Killian looked around for the dragon. He could smell the burning and something else that he decided can only be from a dragon, so he knew it was close. But did he have time to run? Neither of them dared to make a sound, each person's fear was obvious by the lack of breathing in the room. Killian moved to stand protectively in front of the princess, he wasn't entirely sure she could defend herself and he didn't want to take any chances.

Both of their heads snapped to the side as they heard light footsteps coming closer and closer. They watched as Smee rounded a corner shouting something, but he was too far away to make anything out. Emma panicked grabbing Killian's hand in hers and running in the other direction. Killian stumbled but quickly recovered himself and ran beside her his hand feeling heavy in hers. Both of them turned around and saw the dragon storming towards them in a cloud of smoke and fire with Smee just barely out of its range.

"What are we going to do?" the princess demanded frozen in place.

"I have a sword"

The princess closed her eyes and started mumbling.

"Are you praying?"

"I am preparing my soul for death, Knight," she snapped turning her face towards the nearing dragon. The Princess took a step forward and he wondered if she was going to end her life, and then she opened her palms and a white light hit the dragon freezing it. She smiled at herself.

"I did it!" Emma exclaimed and Killian stared at her in awe.

"That you did,"

Then the dragon moved. The fire blowing out further than it did before, making the air hard to walk through. Emma screamed and started running, and Killian did the same in the other direction. He was running towards the dragon. With his sword raised he shook it getting the dragons complete attention and then threw it straight at Maleficent's heart. Not looking back to see if he had missed, Killian ran towards rope he had found and cut it causing the chandelier to fall on top of the dragon.

Killian hadn't missed. Though he still felt as though he needed to get out of the castle, turning the other direction he ran and placed the princess on his shoulders her screams nothing compared to the pounding of blood in his ears. The Princess' body shook and she was fighting him.

"We forgot the other man!" She shouted, and Killian was taken back with how considerate she was. She had never met Smee but she wanted to insure he was safe. _Why? _Looking back Killian couldn't see Smee.

"He's dead,"

"No!" she shouted "We have to go see! Put me down!"

"He's gone, it's not safe to go back we have to go forward," Killian said looking desperately for an exit, but the dragon was lying down in front of all the obvious ones. The smoke was now making its way into this part of the castle and Killian was worried they might pass out and die there. He wasn't sure he'd be able to forgive himself if anything happened to them.

"He was trying to save us! We can't leave him behind" she pleaded smacking him repeatedly on the back. "He deserves for us to look for his body at least"

Killian turned around and saw that the dragon was gone but in its place was a very angry sorceress. Maleficent. The witch made her way towards them causing Killian to place Emma down. The Princess hadn't noticed. Her wide smile caused Killian to take a step back.

"You have magic right?" Killian said quickly his eyes scanning her face.

"No, why would you think that?" She said and even if Killian hadn't have seen her use magic before he would have known she was lying.

"Princess, please use it," Killian asked and she turned around palms raised and fired once, twice, _three times _at the witch stunning her momentarily so that she could no longer move.

"We have to find him and then leave" The Princess screamed and all Killian could think of was _what have I gotten myself into?_


End file.
